All
Trademarks and copyrights belong to their respective owners; when used without
permission; no challenge to ownership is intended.
The
mention of or reference to any companies or products in this site is not a challenge
to the trademarks or copyrights concerned.
|
Click Here for
how you can advertise in this space
|
|
|
This is not a
complete list of everything available on
the web, just some of the tactical space games that have
caught my eye. (Reviewed on
2/26/2012)
Places
to check these sites for more free games on the web:
Tom's
Spaceship Miniatures / Games page
Free
Wargames Rules
Warp
Spawn Games
|
Website
Now
available from Kremlin Miniatures (http://www.kremlinminiatures.co.uk)
are the free rules, Event Horizon,
quick play star ship combat rules which
includes ship design rules and a campaign
system.
They
also mention "We are thinking of making a range of star ships for these rules. Send us your thoughts on this
matter" on their News/Teasers
page so please give them some feedback.
|
Website
4/16/2006
- Beta rules are available for Fate
and Destiny: Starforce at War.
These rules are designed to run a
taskforce of up to 8-10 capital ships
along with a number of fighter flights and
missile salvos : "Fate
and Destiny is a set of miniature
rules for sci-fi combat in the 30th
century. Fleet combat including fighters,
missiles, grappling and boarding.
Ship vector movement is true to Newtonian
physics. A separate section covers
ground combat at a tactical level. A
campaign system for running a series of
games over many game months and years. A
more scientific and mature approach it
taken with these rules. I try to use
current science and carry it forward to a
logical extension far in the future.
Though most is speculation interlaced with
conjecture.
These
rules are currently being designed and
play tested. Right now the fleet battle
system is underdevelopment.
Note
I probably will be changing the scale of
the ships. Plus I will add a computer
assist function."
|
Website
2/5/2012
- Greater Space Battles is a solo game
of space combat using table-top miniatures. Two
or more players can use the rules as well, with
very little modification, but the design focus was
for solo-play.
|
Website
10/3/2009
- GOBS website location
updated to http://www.thegobspage.com/,
it has been there for a long while but I
never got the update done. 11/8/2005
- Now available (for free of course) is G.O.B.S.
More!, the first official rules
supplement for G.O.B.S.!. The
supplement covers spinal mount weapons,
tractor beams, defense satellites,
asteroids and more, and offers improved
rules for fighters to add greater tactical
variety to the game. I've also included
new racial fleet statistics and a handy
fleet stat chart. The supplement is in PDF
(Acrobat Reader) format, and downloadable
for free. Also include as a bonus, stats
for the new Hive miniatures from Studio
Bergstrom. 3/7/2005
- Originally announced and discussed on The
Miniatures Page, G.O.B.S.!
now has its own web page. "G.O.B.S.!
is the game where fleets big enough to
blot out the stars duke it out in the cold
harsh depths of space... with lots of
lasers, phasers, disruptors, cannons,
torpedoes, all firing willy-nilly, with
ships exploding in glorious bursts of
light and, yes, impossibly cinematic
sound. (Physics? We don't need no stinkin'
physics!) If you like space opera style
action, G.O.B.S.! is the miniatures space
battle game for you!" The
rules and charts are available for
download as PDF files.
|
7/30/2005 - The
website for The Universe has
moved to http://www.theuniverse.org.uk/
and the links have been changed though
the >HELLFIRE<
link on the rules page is
incorrect. Also added was a new
game Big
Burn which covers big fleet
actions and is designed for each player to control many capital ships.
Included are rules, movement order sheet, random number table spreadsheet, and sample scenario.
1/3/2001
- Part of "The
Universe" role playing science
fiction environment. >HELLFIRE<
is a fleet game where as Cruel
Void is a fighter scale game.
Another rule set in "The
Universe" include Starship Marine
which covers boarding actions and Macroeconomic
Campaign Rules.
|
5/12/2012 - Kill
Radius is based on the axiom that
the larger the starship, the longer its
deadly reach. This game uses a hex
mat and can be played with any miniatures,
as long as both players are clear on what
type of vessel each mini represents.
Steer clear of the enemy’s Kill Radius!
You can use any starship
miniatures in your collection, but you do
need a hex mat. Recordkeeping is
fairly simple--you can fit a whole fleet
on one sheet of paper. Ship design
and combat is abstract.
|
Website
9/20/2008
- Consortium Games has released a
new 2 page 'Quick Start' version of Launch
Fighters! so you can set up and
start playing the game in only 15
minutes. Also they are developing a
video game of Launch Fighters!,
with more details coming soon.
5/22/2007
- Now available for download is Launch
Fighters! from Consortium Games.
Launch Fighters! is
a new spaceship board game. You can design
your own fleet of starships and challenge
your opponents in an exciting star battle.
Unlike other space
battle games that have a 149 page rulebook
or cost an arm and a leg, you can just
download and print Launch Fighters! It's a
simple, flexible, fun and FREE space
battle system for any galaxy you can
imagine.
To
support the game, Consortium Games
has set up an Forum, and Admiral's Club
and a Newsletter to help players connect
and share ideas.
|
Website
2/26/2012
- “One Page Fleets is my
feeble stab at making a Super-fast game of
space combat that will fit on (at most) a
couple pages printed. OPF
is designed to support large numbers of
ships with a minimum of fuss and little
reference. After a few games it should all
be second nature."
|
Website
8/22/2012
- Pax Stellarum is now
available for download from Google Docs.
"Pax
Stellarum is a spaceship Table-top
Miniature gaming ruleset designed to be
able to represent ships from any Sci-Fi
universe. Players are not Limited to just
designing ships, but can also develop
their own fighters, weapons and troops.
There
are 11 different types of weapons, and
each may have as many as 5 stats
customized. Additionally, weapons may have
multiple traits, which grant them unique
capabilities. This results in a virtually
infinite number of weapon combinations.
Troops
may also be customized with varied stats
and different traits. This allows players
to design different forces for each race
they play with, thus better representing
the diversityfound in Sci-Fi universes.
Finally,
the ship construction system was developed
to accommodate designs from extremely
different scales. Players may create
functional ships of merely 1 hull point or
behemoths with dozens of hull points, all
of which may be fielded in the same game
while keeping game play balanced.
In Pax Stellarum,
miniatures are to be used to represent
each ship. Other items such as planets and
asteroids make up the scenery in which
fleets will clash for ultimate supremacy
among the stars."
The main rulebook and
design rules are available in both regular
and print-friendly versions.
|
12/2/2000
-
Dave finally made the announcement:
Red
Chicken Rising,
the first (and probably only) tactical
spaceship combat game to start out with
a shower scene, is now online and
available for free download from the
ArmourSoft
web site.
Available
are the RCR
rules, Daveway's
Fighting Ships of the Galaxy 2997-2998,
and several versions of the ship forms,
turning guides, etc. Most most are
PDF files.
1/7/2000
- Dave let a bit more slip on sfconsim-l
about the forces driving his design of RCR:
As
I get older my gaming tastes (as a
designer and as a player) have become
more and more directed towards low
complexity, fast playing, low player
workload, easy to learn, high fun value
games. Over and over I keep going back
to my new mantra: "I have these
cool miniatures. I want to play a game
with them." All other
considerations follow after that.
This
philosophy is blaringly obvious in the
design work I've been doing lately on Red
Chicken Rising,
the spaceship combat component set in
the Generic
Legions
universe. It has no relationship to
science, physics, mathematics,
engineering, or even logic. I suspect
such things can be tacked on fairly
easily, but I don't care. The entire
game system is based around these facts:
* I've got several hundred spaceship
miniatures that I've hardly used in 20
years, but really want to use in a game
* The spaceship miniatures range in size
from tiny fighters that are half-an-inch
long, to huge ships that are nearly 6
inches long
* My available playing surface (game
table) is 60 inches by 60 inches, and
that is not likely to change anytime
soon
* My available time slots for games are
about 4 hours
* None of the other game systems I've
tried do what I want them to do; Full
Thrust
comes the closest and is a fairly
reasonable match, so I will probably do
a GL
conversion module for FT
* I like the GL
universe, even though a number of other
local gamers don't; some are very
unhappy that I don't take sci fi gaming
"seriously", others aren't
comfortable with a sci fi background
that isn't from some
"official" source. I suppose
that would change when I get around to
finishing and publishing the GL
novels.
* I'm much more interested in game that
are the "each player controls 8 to
25 ships", as opposed to the more
common "each player controls 1 or 2
ships" sort. That's really the only
reason Full
Thrust
isn't quite what I want: it's great at
the "each player controls up to 5
ships" but I don't think it works
well with more than that.
I've
got some work done on Red
Chicken Rising,
the spaceship combat miniatures game
that takes place in the Generic
Legions
universe. Like GL,
there will be several versions, with
various levels of detail and
playability. I will be running the first
public game as a kid's event at
PicaFight III, which takes place on
Saturday, February 26, at Picatinny
Arsenal in northern New Jersey. The
rules version I'll be using is RCR:
Space Dust
(the rules of which are suspiciously
similar to GL:BBV,
and the original miniatures version of Space
Waste
we whipped up in 1982). As I get these
hammered out I will post them to the web
site for free consumption. I will
probably field 8 fleets from 8 different
races, but I haven't figured out which
races I'll use yet. The Generics,
Irvanians, D'Orques, Ducks, Bad Days,
and Alfs are all likely candidates since
I just happened to have those fleets
already mounted and painted.
I
asked if he was going to work in Starfleet
Wars
minis like he had done with MAATAC
minis in Generic
Legions
and he responded:
Yup,
that's my intention, and I'm also going
to work in the old Valiant
miniatures, Star
Fleet Battles
ships, and whatever else I can find. I
have a big fleet of the Aquarians from Starfleet
Wars,
which my wife painted and dubbed the
D'Orque fleet. The SFW
Terrans will probably end up as the
Robot fleet, the Avarians will become
the Budgies, the Carnivores may end up
as the Bowsers or the Fyr-Baal (I'm not
sure yet), and the Entomalians are of
course the Squishies in GL.
It'll
be a few months probably before I get it
up on the web site. I'll also have
photos of spaceship minis in GL
fleet colors, and tips on how to mount
ships.
If
you've never taken a look at Generic
Legions
before, go take a look now. It is
a is a series of wargame rulesets for
science fiction miniatures, designed for
use with whatever miniatures you happen
to have handy. The rulesets vary
from the Big Battle Version using 'epic'
scale or 6mm miniatures to more detailed
versions using 25mm minis. The
background for GL
is very interesting and entertaining,
with races like 'They Who Are Having A
Bad Day', 'Dirty Rotten Stinking
Earthies', D'Orques', 'Undead' and
others Dave mentioned above. Go
ahead, take a look.
|
10/1/2004
- A Sky Full of Ships
information has been moved to its own ASFoS
Page after the big announcement.
1/2/2002
- Dan let me know there have been a
few updates to A Sky Full of Ships,
namely revised rules for fighter combat,
expanded ECM rules, and rules for
ramming.
10/1/2001
- Formerly known as "Dan's
Fast and Simple Sci-Fi Fleet Rules"
this game has been updated recently with
rules for interceptors and bombers, and
a printer friendly version, there is
even a support site, A
Sky Full of Ships: An Online Resource
full of ship designs.
1/17/2001
- Inspired by Full Thrust
and the B5 Fleet Action
minis, Dan Abbott wanted to game even
larger battles than Full Thrust could
handle, so he took a bit of Full
Thrust and added some General
Quarters (WW2 Naval rules) and
ended up with simplified rules so huge
fleet battles could be played quickly
and easily.
|
6/22/2000
-
Now available online in MS Word format
are the rules for Starwar
2250
and its rules for starship
construction.
This an older game with a 1970's
miniature game feel so try it out.
|
2/26/2012 - Sunder
the Stars is a space fleet
combat game that can be played on a hex
board or open table. It is
designed to handle task force actions
and fleet engagements. All combat
is determined by opposed rolls.
Initiative-based, individual activations
for ships and squadrons. A simple
mechanism allows for each ship's combat
effectiveness to degrade as it takes
damage. The game does not require
a control sheet for each individual
ship, only each type of ship in your
fleet and a few "counters" for
special situations. Plenty of
optional rules to tailor the game to
your style of play. Ship and fleet
construction rules are included.
And it's free.
|
7/30/2005
-
Now available for download from Interformic
Games is the space fighter game Turn
or Burn:
"Turn or Burn is a fast-paced game of space fighter combat for 2 to 8 players. To start a game, you design your fighter from a deck of system cards. Each turn you play a system or maneuver card facedown to plot the action your fighter will take. The game uses vector movement, so you must plan ahead! When everyone has plotted, all players reveal their actions simultaneously. Fighters move, guns fire, stuff explodes, and it's on to the next turn."
Currently
available for download is Module 1:
Quick Shot which includes the basic
rules, Module 2: Popcorn which
adds more systems and Module 3:
Bigger which adds larger fighters to
the game.
Still to come are Module
4: Space War, Module 5: Exotica,
and Module 6: Hard to Kill.
|
4/16/2006
- Nigel Hodge created these rules
currently hosted on the Freewargamesrules.co.uk
website: "Vector
V5 is a game of combat between
small, fast starships in the distant
future. The emphasis in creating these
rules has been to provide players with a
fast exciting game after a game or two,
players will probably not have to refer to
the rules at all. The
most innovative aspect of VV5
is the movement system, which is based on
the real physics of movement in space. All
too often, science fiction films (&
games) assume that starships will behave
in the same way as terrestrial ships or
aircraft. The truth is quite different as
you will see. Once you have played one or
two games, the movement rules will become
second nature; they’re actually much
simpler than those used by most other
games."
|
Lost Games
No Longer Online
These games formerly on
the web are now gone. You may be
able to find them by searching for their
URL on the Internet
Archive Wayback Machine.
|
Website
2/12/2004
- This website has been down for a
while. I haven't been able to find a
new location for this game.
12/8/2001
- As its website says:
Based
on material from SFB, SFB:TNG, FASA, B5
Wars, and more. It is a self contained
game that allows for fast ship to ship
combat between Star Trek, Babylon 5, Star
Wars, and just about any other Sci-Fi
series made. Everything you need to play
(except for dice) is included on this site.
Control
sheets are available for an astounding 416
ships and growing!
|
1/3/2001
- Connected to a conversion of
Battlestar Galactica ships to Star
Fleet Battles,
the Fleet
Combat System
takes a higher level approach and uses
many fan created ships to round out the
fleets. The introduction describes
this game as:
"a
set of rules that attempts to recreate
the vast fleet actions that occurred
during the desperate struggle between
the Colonials and Cylons during the
Thousand Yahren War. The rules are
intended to be quick and uncomplicated,
yet allowing for lot of flexibility and
tactical play. "
Also
of note, on this site there are
conversions of the fighters from
Battlestar Galactica to Star
Warriors
and
Silent Death
stats.
|
Website
From
the game's own description:
"Earth
Expects
is a highly detailed set of tactical
space combat rules which emphasise skill
over firepower. It is well suited
to playing battles from duels to
squadron actions; because of the high
level of detail, large fleet battles can
be slow to play and therefore optional
rules are provided to speed play in
these games."
|
Website
8/9/2004
- Madan Mitra just dropped me a note to
let me know Fast Play Fleets
is now at www.edragons.info
and a Blakes 7 version of FPF
is in the works. 10/29/2003
- I finally found the new location of this
game online - http://www.edragons.net/ 12/8/2001
- As the name says, Fast Play Fleets
is another fleet game made to play quicky,
as the name suggests. Two versions
are available, Star Trek and Babylon
5. The Trek version is
meant to be played with at least 15 ships
per side and is a bit quicker than the B5
version due to the lack of fighters.
|
2/26/2011
- An updated version of GSC2
is now available as Astral
Empires: Nova Command.
11/17/2003
- Thane Morgan announces:
I'm making some
changes to GSC2, enough probably to
call it GSC3. I'll probably be
rewriting the whole thing when its done,
but for now, I'm putting the potential
changes up for players to comment on
before hand, and to track as things do
become vetted through playtesting. I'm
also writing the reasons (as I see them)
for the changes, which may be interesting
for those who are interested in the game
design process.
You can find the
discussion here: http://www.thanesgames.com/gsc2/gsc2revisions.htm
1/30/2000
- Several new fleets and updated rules
are now available at the GSC2
page.
12/12/99
- Thane Morgan posted the following info
on GSC
on rec.games.miniatures.misc:
I'm
in the process of rewriting the GSC
rules. Although I liked the first
version a lot, I've learned a lot since
it was written, and am streamlining the
system for more speed and simplicity.
If anyone had thoughts on the old
system, or has ideas for new ship
weapons and systems, please let me know.
In
general, the current changes are -
A
much simplified ship building system
A
much faster combat resolution,
including:
No charts to reference for targeting -
you have a targetting level, add the
aspect of target, subtract the shield
level, modify for range.
Changed the way shields work. Instead of
rolling to penetrate the shields
modified by weapon strength, the shields
simply change the odds of hitting.
I really liked the old system, but it
does drop a die roll from resolution.
Changed the system damage resolution
charts. Now there is a table created by
the ship building process which a single
d10 roll determines what is hit.
External systems generally must be shot
through before internal systems begin to
be affected.
In
general, an attack is resolved in a
maximum of 3 rolls (roll to hit, roll
armor save for systems, roll for which
systems are damaged). This is half of
the maximum number of roll in the old
system (roll to hit, roll to penetrate
shields,roll to penetrate armor, roll to
determine system group, sometimes roll
to determine system or battery,
sometimes roll to determine number of
special systems damaged)
The
new system is still being tweaked for
balance, especially for the cost of
shields and targetting levels. I am
working on the rewrite, and will post
when it is available.
Any
thoughts would be appreciated.
There
will likely be a renaming as well - some
of the playtesters have been beating me
up about it.
All
light weapons have the same ranges, as
do all medium and all heavy weapons.
This reduces chart referencing.
The
game has been "expanded" -
rules have been subtly changed to reduce
the tendancy for ships to be manuevered
so close to each other. This involves
changing ranges, movement, turn speeds,
etc.
Torpedoes
have been renamed more accurately as
missiles.
|
Website
12/15/2002 - High
Frontier is available online for a
playtest. The playtest file consists
of PDF files of the rules in a .sit
download. You will need Stuffit
to expand the file. I don't have
much more info at this time....I have a
copy I printed somewhere......but can't
seem to find it right now...
|
Website
2/12/2004
- Available from Paperworlds.com,
Mini Combat: Space Combat is
a quick and easy game. It also
includes some great color counters you can
download and print, including two
different fleets of ships, plants, moons,
and other space scenery. A sample
ship counter is pictured.
|
Website
4/15/2002 -
Timothy Swenson has posted, Minimal
Space Combat: The Book.
This is a PDF file with
all of the MSC games and
articles, including MSC, The
Strategic Game, the solo rules, a
new Tutorial, designer notes, and
"Applying Naval Tactics to Space
Combat" article.
|
12/9/2000
- This new set of starship combat rules
was just web-published by Pete Jones on
11/8/99. It is based off of the Hammerin
Iron II rules for American Civil
War Naval combat. Thanks to The
Miniatures Page for the link to this
game.
|
3/7/2000
- Mike Jasinski has announced that a
space combat game he developed, Sol
Cruiser is now available at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/1966/.
When describing the game, Mike says,
"Basically, it combines the basic
paradigm of 2300AD's
Star Cruiser (emphasis on
stealth, detection, and long-range
missile fire), Triplanetary-style
vector movement, and a ship design
system loosely patterned after Full
Thrust.
|
From
Ed
Walker Games
11/15/2004
- SPACEFARER is now
available as a free download. After
review of the effort to make it pay rules,
Ed made it free again for everyone.
There is a full download of all the rules
in which you can design ships ranging in
type from small fighters to kilometer wide
Dreadnoughts, rules for ship combat and
boarding combat using marines. In
addition there are Quick Start Rules which
is a fast playing version of the full
rules allowing players to learn combat and
tactics without having to wade through
ship design and complicated weapons
choices. Plus there is a file of just the
ship log.
2/22/2004
- SPACEFARER Starship Combat
Simulator, long available online
but recently unavailable, is online
again. The full version is being
revamped and will soon be available again
for purchase for a small price. A free
version in online but only includes
Fighters and does not include construction
rules.
|
Unpublished
Manuscripts - http://www.trekrpg.net/trek/core/comp_core_netbooks.htm
Since
the Star
Trek RPG
license is going to
Decipher,
several products for the Last
Unicorn Games
version were close to completion when Wizards
of the Coast
(who just bought LUG)
decided to stop publishing supplements
for this game. Some of the
designers of the games still had the
rights to their work and with WotC's
blessing, they are allowing them to be
distributed electronically on the web.
These supplements are not specifically
related to the tactical game Engage!
(which was not close to being done) but
I think they are of enough interest to
space gamers that they should be listed
on SCN.
The supplements of interest are Spacedock,
the ship construction rules the RPG, the
Ship
Recognition Manuals with
stats of all the ships seen in the
series and movies (Next Gen era), and
the Dominion
War Sourcebook with
info on the war, orders of battle, etc.
Many thaks to Steve Long and Don Mappin
for their work on these items.
7/23/2002 - Ship
Recognition Manual Vol. 4 - Starships of
the Original Series Era is now
available online. It is a 1.76
MB zipped PDF file, 138 pages with a full
color cover. "The
SRM: TOS Era covers the period 2063 to
2293, reviewing and describing some of the
ships commonly identified with that time
-- such as the Constitution, Miranda, and
Excelsior classes. It has ships not only
from the Federation, but the Klingon
Empire, Romulan Empire, and other species
and governments, as well as common
civilian vessels. It includes detailed
rules for creating ships during this
period (since the basic SPACEDOCK rules
focus on 24th-century technology) and some
additional ship combat rules or revisions
specific to the period covered." http://www.trek-rpg.net/trek/core/comp_core_netbooks.htm
3/29/2002 - Ship
Recognition Manual Vol. 3 - The Klingon
Empire is now available
online. It is a 2.7 MB zipped PDF
file.
The next SRM to be
released looks like it will be The
Original Series ships.
Thanks to Evil Cartman
for letting me know this SRM was now
available.
1/31/2002 - Ship
Recognition Manual, Volume 2 Starships
of the Cardassian Union
is now available. This is a
1.54 MB zipped PDF file.
The
Klingon SRM is done and should be
available soon.
5/17/2001
- The
Dominion War Sourcebook: The Fires of
Armageddon
is now available from
TrekRGP.net.
This is a 166 page PDF file, 4.9 mb is
size.
"The
sourcebook contains details on the
entire Dominion War, the battles, the
fronts, the powers involved, and the
cast of characters. Also new write-ups
of equipment used in the war, including
starships and ground warfare, are
included. A separate Appendix includes SPACEDOCK
stats as well."
12/31/2000
- Ship
Recognition Manual, Volume 1: The Ships
of Starfleet
is now available. This is a 180
page PDF file zipped to a 3.9MB file.
"Over
50 starships in one complete book!
Includes every canon Starfleet vessel
seen onscreen from The Next Generation,
Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. Also
included are a number of Threat vessels
to begin your own combat
engagements."
All
of these ships are designed according to
Spacedock
rules. To download a copy, go to TrekRPG.net
and follow the instructions.
Ship
Recognition Manual, Vol. 2: Starships of
the Cardassian Union
has been written and is now being
checked for errors before going to Don
Mappin for the final layout.
12/1/2000
- Spacedock
is available. This is a massive
198
page PDF file, zipped to a 4MB download.
|
1/17/2001
- As a supplement for an RPG, Vanguard
Spaceships
is a bit different than the other games
listed here and its Hard SciFi edge
makes it more interesting. Here is
how they describe the game themselves:
"Vanguard
Spaceships is
a complete set of rules for designing
spaceships and running spaceship combat
in the Vanguard universe. It was
written to be used with Vanguard
Free Roleplaying (VFR),
but it works as a stand-alone game, too.
As
a game of hard science fiction, Vanguard
Spaceships
includes speculative but plausible
technology. Spaceships are
propelled with reaction drives, not
inertialess drives. If crews need
simulated gravity then they spin the
ship or accelerate hard; they don't have
gravity generators."
|
|
|
|
|